Just hours to go until that fateful vote, and nothing is certain. Will Gordon last another 42 days if he doesn't win? It's all hands to the pump and we are doing what we can, ringing round, twisting arms; but our efforts are as nothing set against those of the hardliners on the Sun. "UK's Top Muslim Backs 42 Days", the paper reported yesterday. Important stuff. They thought so. The decision of Khurshid Ahmed, chair of the Muslim Forum of Britain, to call for "42 days' detention without charge" was also flagged up in a leader. Who knows how many wavering MPs saw it and were minded to fall into line. Would that he had said it. Suspicions were raised by a Press Association report early yesterday in which the same Mr Ahmed said his group had "agreed to disagree" with the government over 42 days. "Even over 28 days, we had strong objections," he said. Aghast, he told the Diary he supports tough action against terrorists but that his high-profile endorsement of 42 days was news to him. "We don't support the extension. We have never supported it." Furthermore, he asks, when did he become "Top Muslim"? Was there a competition? Who decided? Simon Cowell, we suspect. Pop Idol, Muslim Idol. That's his sort of thing.

· An equally febrile atmosphere in Brussels as the enforcer dispatched by David Cameron to sort out his MEPs and their expenses gets down to work. The fear is palpable. The strong grow weak. Yesterday we suggested Philip Bradbourne, the West Midlands MEP, would be the Tory talisman with Giles Chichester, the former leader, having quit to deal with his own expenses difficulties. Instead, we are directed towards his colleague, Philip Bushill-Matthews, who has become acting leader of the Tory group. And now we know why. In 2003 he wrote what might now be required reading for all who wonder where the money went, an exposé of Brussels titled Gravy Train. The publishers boasted his book revealed "full details of MEPs' pay and expenses". What we know now suggests that it wasn't as comprehensive as he had hoped, but he's just the man for this crisis. For a second edition, too.

· Mayday, mayday. This from our friends at the anti-abortion charity LifeLeague. "This summer, a huge youth Rock Festival will take place at Glastonbury. No doubt you've heard of this infamous festival. Glastonbury was once a sacred place of pilgrimage, now it has the dubious honour of hosting the largest and wildest Youth Music Festival in the world. Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll are venerated, and inevitably - abortion, disease, heartbreak and misery follow." And we thought it was just a big rock festival: a bit of mud, a bit of music. Silly us.

· But watch out, the Olympics could also be libidinous. We need action, according to Sandra Gidley, MP for Romsey, to prevent the potential spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Civil servants are assessing the extent to which differing nationalities made common cause at the past two events. And we can tell them that in Athens organisers handed out 130,000 condoms, and that seemed to suffice. But in Sydney, where each athlete was given 51 on arrival, 20,000 more were later shipped in because supplies proved insufficient. We can cope with this sort of thing if we first learn the lessons of Glastonbury. But what will they do in Beijing?

· Speaking of which, did you know that William Hill has now allowed our friend, the veteran surrealist Rainbow George Weiss, to change the £333 bet we told you about in April? He said, at odds of 3,000-1, that "aliens of extraterrestrial origin will appear during the televised section of the opening of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing". But he now accepts that won't happen. He says they'll come at the end instead. "If they came at the opening ceremony they would disrupt the whole event, and they wouldn't want to do that," he explains. A fool and his money? Undoubtedly. But then it is his.

· We are saving ours to bid for second rights to the pictures from Wayne Rooney's wedding. OK! magazine has first dibs. You may want to contribute. You may not. But if the Economist beats us to it, you'll be sorry.